The Buyerarchy Of Needs

Photo credit: Sarah Lazarovic

A couple of years back, a famous illustrative hierarchy on the trends and needs of consumers, and the consumer behaviour, was created by Canadian illustrator Sarah Lazarovic, who is also a creative director and a visual journalist specializing in info-graphics and illustrations. 

Sara Lazarovic's The Buyerarchy of Needs is a creative twist to Abraham Maslow's famous "Hierarchy of Needs". Maslow created a pyramidal classification on the necessities of survival when he found some necessities taking precedence over other necessities.  He laid out five levels of needs:  the physiological needs, the needs for safety and security, the needs for love and belonging, the needs for esteem, and the need to actualize the self- and the levels are arranged in the order that pushes the instincts, with psychological needs placed at the base and self-actualization at the top of the pyramid.

Lazarovic's innovative twist in this pyramid gives a similiar structure for consumers buying goods, the ultimate aim being to save money and use it when needed. The 'buyerarchy' moves from using what you have at the base to borrowing, swapping, buying in thrifts, making as levels through the alternate intermediate layers (in that order), and finally buying at the apex of the pyramid. This hierarchy of levels, when kept in mind while buying, not only help save money, but also help save the environment. 

It is important to utilize resources judiciously, and help create a sustainable change. The illustrative Buyerarchy of Needs is a beautiful way to capture the essence of saving both money and natural resources. Its levels reinforce that the panacea to all environment ills is to use the well known principle of 5 R's- refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot! 

It is an inspiring and creative illustration, and so is its illustrator! It is such a pleasure to discover the mind behind creativity, and where such ideas are inspired from. Next time you spot an interesting picture/photograph/illustration/quote/any artistic expression that catches your attention, and makes you pause and think, take that little effort to find out who is behind it! I'm sure we'll all have a lot more to learn and gain that way!

The Idea Of Cleanliness

The train chugged on full pace, the wind rattling the loosely fitted window panes, and I sat quietly with a Wodehouse in my hand. The loud, brash noise of the rail and its travellers faded away into a subtle, muffled background while I was preoccupied with Jeeves. Suddenly, I was jolted back to reality when someone placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see a mother, and a kid, a girl about six years old, standing close to me and saying something.

"Excuse me, I was asking you if you would mind shifting seats with me? My daughter, here, wants to have a window seat. I sit right here on the aisle, diagonal to you. If you don't mind, could you let her sit for a while?" the mother asked, smiling pleadingly. The girl smiled sweetly as I shifted my gaze from the mother to her. I smiled back and got up to shift.

In my new seat, I could see much more of the train. So I closed the book, and sat looking around, the noise of the passengers and the rail becoming more obvious to me. I turned my eyes back to the mother and the girl. The girl clutched a packet of biscuits, and threw down the plastic wrapper on the floor of the train after her last bite.

"How many times have I told you that you cannot litter! Pick it up, now!" came the stern voice of her mother immediately. I allowed myself a smile, after all humans have improved, I thought.

The girl picked up the wrapper. Her mother took it and, without two thoughts, disposed it off the train window, as the wind carried it miles away.

The smile of hope on my face morphed into a smirk of disbelief.

Writing adapted from the observant tweet:

A kid throws a wrapper in d train compartment. Mother disciplines. Makes kid pick it up. Throws out of window. V hv a long way to go.

— Varadharajan K (@VaradhKrish) November 15, 2014

Gift A Sapling

Image from Pinterest

As kids, we never really thought too much about having to get someone a meaningful gift. A 5 Star or a Silk chocolate for my best friends stood out from the eclairs that I gave to the rest, and it the was the best gift. But now, we receive gifts, we give gifts, and as much as chocolate is still special, we feel the need to give something that the other person can retain and use. Fancy gifts may look fancy but after a point they make no difference, and nor are they of any actual use. So, what do you gift someone?

If it's me who is to be gifted something, books are the best and simplest option. There are so many genres, so many collections, and so many new releases that keep coming up. And, a reader never stops reading. So, books are a one-stop-all-time solution to gift to those who read. What about the rest? You can still get them books, hoping they might start reading, but sometimes you want to make them happy and also gift something that they will use. Some gifts are a no-no for some people. For example, I know a lot of people who'd hate to get clothes for gifts, or accessories, as it has a high personal taste to it, and cannot be used if it doesn't fit in with their profile or taste. 

For sometime now, I've always thought that it'd be a great idea to gift somebody a plant or a sapling. Such a gift would be thoughtful, meaningful, fond, and something to retain and remember- which is precisely what a gift is meant to be. My friend and I were researching on what plants we could buy if we did buy, and we found so many varieties with respect to shapes, sizes, properties and prices! There are flowering and non-flowering, fragrant and  non-fragrant, those that need sunlight, those that can grow indoors without direct sunlight, those that require very less water, those that repel insects, and so on. I'm sure there are a lot of plants available according to the situations of those you are going to gift. 

Not just would you be gifting them a sapling, you'd be gifting them an opportunity to be disciplined and more responsible because a plant needs to be tended to. An act as simple as watering it every other day would suffice, but it still needs to be done responsibly. I think it would be a gift that would make the giver and the receiver feel full in heart. And, you'd be gifting them something you'd always be remembered by. 

So, this 2020 when you need to gift somebody, think about whether it is possible to gift them a plant! Or, you can start by gifting yourself one, and getting to know more about them. I think they are a wonderful idea for gifts, amongst many other wonderful ideas. So, if you feel like you've run out of ideas on what to gift to a loved one, here you go!

A to Z: On How To Create A Sustainable Change

Image from Sustainability Illustrated

Apple fell on Newton's head, and then suddenly we all realized the concept of gravity. 

But, gravity had always existed, and continued to exist. 

Can we draw a parallel, and say that be it discoveries or imagination it always derives its source from what already exists? 

Do you think humans have the capability to create something that in no way existed before? 

Every object we know, though the object might have been new at some point, is made up of stuff that we know and exists. 

For instance, let's consider the creature of imagination: unicorns. 

Given the fact that we know of the existence of horns and horses, we pieced together two elements that exist to imagine something that doesn't. 

How and what, then, do we pride ourselves to have discovered?

Is the various combinations, of what already exists that we piece together, something to feel accomplished about?

Just a few seconds of thought is enough to realize that humans can just shape what is given to them, and not create anything novel. 

Knowing this, is it fair for us to deplete the resources that we have?

Life would come to a standstill, if the resources we have are not used effectively.

Mankind is an intelligent species, and such intelligence is a double-edged sword. 

Not so long ago, our ancestors seemed to have lived in a world that was replete with resources, and within the short time, we have managed to cause exponential depletion in the name of development.

Our duty, as responsible citizens of, I will not say the world, our own locality, is to make sure that our neighbourhood understands the impacts of irresponsible behaviour, and starts to pay heed to the environment and its resources.

Panacea to this ill is to use the well known principle of 5 R's.

Question your neighbourbood on their practices, and promote small changes for a better future.

Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot- all possible products in your neighbourhood.

Stay within your neighbourbood, that's where you can effect a change and actually contribute. 

To help the world, you first need to help yourself, so don't just preach sustainability, you also need to follow it.

Unless every neighbourhood feels the need to change, and also implements change at small levels, there is no way a change can be seen at a city level even, forget the world level.

Very effective ways to help people get into the groove of the 5 R's of sustainability is to start them at schools, work spaces, hotels, restaurants, where there is a lot of scope to do so. 

Where there is a will, there is a way, after all. 

Xerox of documents and unnecessary printouts can be avoided in today's world of technology, so do it only when necessary. 

You need to be the change you want to see.

Zeal is all that is required!

The Last Chance

A neat, lean, thirty-ish, crisp looking Indian lady in formals, walked up the podium. The auditorium fell silent as she switched on the mic. 

“Esteemed scholars, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 25th International Conference on Human Survival. It has been a privilege for India to host this important and urgent SOS conference. Without further ado, I would like to call upon Mr. Devesh Kesari to break the news. Thank you. Mr. Kesari, you have the floor for the next fifteen minutes.”

*

Humans are weird creatures. They know how to think, to communicate, to invent and innovate. But best of all they know to live. To survive through hardships. To sustain and establish themselves. Till date they are the most intelligent living terrestrial species. 

Humans are weird creatures. They do not have any enemy. So, they play enemies among themselves. They go on a war to establish peace. They divide themselves to create harmony. They invent guns to protect. 

But humans are also stupid. Not because they don’t know nature is always more powerful than themselves. But because they know it full well and yet exploit it. They are stupid, not because they don’t know there is a limit to their atrocious behaviour, but because they don’t change their behaviour even when they know they are crossing the limits. 

Earth survived the twenty-first century. But the trouble brewed up early in the twenty-second. And, then, man realised his mistake. But he continued to be stupid. When he realised that he cannot sustain longer, he just wanted to make the most of it and swindle as much pleasure he can from the time he has. 

But it can’t be entirely said that man didn’t try. He did. But the situation had gone beyond his ability to frame a solution. Man tried to invent machines. But machines were not useful. In fact, some were counter-productive. And, man didn’t know how to make anything other than machines. Things that have life. 

‘It can’t be saved anyway. I would rather enjoy myself than try to make changes,’ he thought. 

Well. man is so immature. But nature is not. 

Mother Nature is sweet as ever. And there, she passed on a boon, to the earthlings- her very own children- to save them from decline and herself from destruction, that she had gotten from the Gods, as a last chance for the intelligent earthlings to learn and mend their ways.

And what is this venom that we talk about that man invented unaware that it could endanger himself? 

Plastic.

Well, man can’t invent living things to consume plastic. But, God can. And, that, Mother nature graciously passed on to her children with the hope that they learn. 

There is our chance to use it wisely and save ourselves. Our one last chance.

Nature has provided us with the best chance- a tree that can degrade the polymeric structure of synthetics and plastics. In simple terms a tree that feeds on plastic, with a lifespan of exactly 80 years.

*

Dev hadn’t spoken a word about the actual statistics of human destruction and survival. Nor did he need the full 15 minutes to make the speech. He thought that if statistics could help, it already would have. Humans, when provided with statistics, only looked forward to manipulating it and fooling themselves. Thus, he had ended his statement on a human note, as a sincere appeal to all of the humanity that was left on this Earth.